Alec Baldwin Speaks Out Against Governator Doc

Another election, another politician wanted out of office ... and yet another documentary. This chain of events is so common now that the presence of partisan docs is as easy to ignore as all the real campaign ads on television. Even one such film, about Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, would have passed under the radar if not for gaining a bit of controversy over the weekend. The film, Running with Arnold, is against the re-election of "The Governator" and has reportedly gone over the line as far as taste goes in order to attack the actor's qualifications for office.

One person who isn't happy with the finished product is its narrator, Alec Baldwin. He could sue the film makers after having gotten no cooperation from them regarding his request to be removed from the project or a cease and desist letter that he issued to them. On The Huffington Post, he wrote about his disapproval of the film, particularly the unfair association of Schwarzenegger with Nazis. He also says that the film makers can not accommodate his wishes because of a distribution deadline (I can't seem to find a release date for the film to back up this deadline, but seeing as how election day is in one week, I'm guessing it will play somewhere starting this Friday).
On Netscape, Karina Longworth lets the film makers have their say. One important thing they point out is that the offensive images Baldwin alludes to are no longer in the film (it's unclear if this is because of his disapproval). Other than that, the film still contains the actor's narration and will be released with it. Producer Mike Gabrawny also tells Karina that he is shocked at Baldwin's resistance considering he is an outspoken Democrat. Personally, I think that if Gabrawny thinks that all outspoken Democrats have to agree on biased criticisms of Republicans, than he shouldn't be making political films. All he has to do is talk to any of the millions of Democrats who were embarrassed or disapproving of Fahrenheit 9/11.

Anyway, Gabrawny should be happy with Baldwin's resistance, as it is giving his film more exposure than it might otherwise have received. Sure, this past weekend showed us that controversy doesn't mean box office gold, but there will forever be the argument that bad publicity is better than no publicity.